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Donald Trump Rolls Over Marco Rubio as Decisive Contests Near

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Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at the Trump National Golf Club, Tuesday, March 8, 2016, in Jupiter, Fla.

Donald Trump continues to deflect a steady stream of attacks from his rivals, damaging stories in the press, and regular confusion over his own policy platform to end the week as the front-runner for the Republican nomination.

Meanwhile, Sen. Marco Rubio's rapid decline leaves Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a hardline conservative loathed by many party insiders, as the GOP'S last best alternative to Trump, according to NBC News.

But while Cruz won Idaho, Trump easily won Michigan and Mississippi — the two biggest delegate prizes of Tuesday's contests — and was projected to win the Hawaii caucus. In doing so he once again dashed rivals' hopes that their efforts to drag down his campaign might finally be yielding fruit.

"I don't think I've ever had so many horrible things said about me," Trump stated in a press conference on Tuesday night.